Prefab Sprout
Early dates Paddy McAloon perfomed with Tony Coyle as part of a duo and sometime trio known as “The Doubles” and also as a band at University known as the “Happy Alberts” (As “Avalon“) 1976/1977 Avalon line up was Tony Coyle, Vocals; Paddy McAloon, Guitar; Leo McCabe, Guitar and Bass; Roy McCalvey, Bass; Johnny Darmo, Drums Sunday Nights, Bay Hotel, Cullercoats Prudhoe Hospital Unknown Dates The earliest incarnation of Prefab Sprout was Paddy and Martin McAloon, with Mick Salmon on drums St Leonards RC School Sixth Form Dinner Dance “Ill-matched gigs were a feature of that post-punk era. I once saw Prefab Sprout supporting NWOBHM’s Samson in Durham, and Paddy McAloon was hit on the head by a cooking apple thrown by a local rock fan whom we just knew as ‘Reggie Mental’. ‘Reggie’s down the front’ someone muttered before the gig even started. ‘Has he got his cookers with him?’ ‘Yes’ At that point, we all knew that trouble was inevitable…” – Andy Darling quoted from a comment in the Guardan online. Honeysuckle Pub on Coatsworth Road. Gateshead “Saw The Eastside Torpedoes with Bren Healey, Toy Dolls, Prefab Sprout” 1980 Rixy’s Nightclub, Durham City Castle Inn, Durham Spectro Arts Lab Newcastle (Supporting Dem-Cox) January 30th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham February 9th: Dunelm House, University of Durham, supporting the Revillos February 16th: Dunelm House, University of Durham, supporting the Members June 29th: Durham Domefest July 2nd: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham October 8th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham October 15th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham October 22nd: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham October 25th: Kings Head, Stanley November 4th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham November 18th : Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank Durham November 19th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham November 25th: Brewers Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham December 6th : Langley Park St Joseph’s Parish Hall December 11th: Durham Q Ball Club December 16th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham 1981 March 27th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab, with Green Eyed Children (later to become Hurrah!) March 28th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab April: Tom Minney’s Party May 7th: Newcastle Spectro Arts Lab June 18th: Newcastle Balmbra’s, with Reptile House July 21st: Jesmond, The Lonsdale June 25th: Brewer’s Arms, Gilesgate Bank, Durham. August 11th: Jesmond, The Lonsdale September 7th: Annabels, Sunderland October: Le Metro, Sunderland October 24th: Green Machine Disco, Dunelm House, Durham University, supporting Punching Holes 1982 Wendy Smith started performing at live dates about February 1982 January 6th: Washington Biddick, Farm Arts Centre August 26th: The Soul Kitchen, Newcastle 1983 March 17th: Night Moves, Glasgow, supporting Aztec Camera. The Kingfishers were also on the bill March 18th: Edinburgh University, supporting Aztec Camera March 24th: Newcastle Soul Cellar at Grey’s Club March 31st: Newcastle Soul Cellar at Grey’s Club April 16th: Darlington Arts Centre June 29th: El Hacienda, Tiffany’s, Newcastle Michael Salmon left the band about July 1983. A Spinal Tapesque succession of drummers followed, including Daniel James (pseudonym for Graham Lant), Steve Dolder, Louis Connolly, David Ruffy and others, with Graham Lant being employed on the Swoon recordings and some gigs around this period including El Hacienda and Liverpool Poly. December 7th: Liverpool Polytechnic December 12th: Monday Club, Newcastle December 15th: Sunday Drum Club, Sunderland December 19th: Birmingham Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions Wednesday 21st December: HMV Hammersmith Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions Thursday 22nd December (early and late shows): HMV Hammersmith Odeon supporting Elvis Costello and the Attractions 1984 The “New Way of Life” Tour January 4th: Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) with Hurrah! and the Daintees January 17th: Reading University January 18th: Goldsmith College, London January 19th: Kingston Polytechnic, London By this time David Ruffy had joined as a regular drummer for live dates January 20th: Kings College, London January 21st: Brunel University January 25th: Hacienda, Manchester with the Daintees January 27th: Birmingham University January 28th: Alcuin (University of York) with the Daintees February 8th: Leicester Polytechnic (Arena) with the Daintees February 9th: London Savoy at the Boston with Hurrah! and the Daintees February 10th: Manchester University (announced at Hacienda gig, seems unlikely from geography of preceding and next shows) February 11th: Portsmouth Polytechnic February 13th: Upstairs at Erics, Bournemouth February 24th: Night Moves, Glasgow February 25th: Nite Club, Edinburgh February 26th: Dance Factory Dundee March 17th (broadcast): Saturday Live Session All dates between April 27 to May 18 include Hurrah! as special guests. March 1984: “Swoon” released. The lineup for successive dates included Virginia Astley of the Ravishing Beauties, with Neil Conti on drums. UK and Ireland Tour: April 27th: The Buttery, Trinity College, Dublin April 28th: McMordie Hall, Queen’s University Belfast May 3rd: Hacienda, Manchester May 4th: Lancaster University May 5th: Mountford Hall, Liverpool University May 7th: Lyceum London May 8th: Leadmill, Sheffield May 9th: Victoria Hall, Hanley May 10th: Polytechnic, Leeds May 12th: Essex University Students’ Union May 13th: Studio, Bristol May 14th: Upstairs at Eric’s, Bournemouth May 15th: Rock City, Nottingham May 16th: Birmingham Odeon May 17th: Mayfair, Newcastle May 19th: University, East Anglia German Tour: May 21st: Cooky’s, Frankfurt May 22nd: Luxor, Koln May 23rd: Musiktheater Bad, Hannover May 24th: KIR, Hamburg May 25th: Odeon, Munster May 26th: Loft im Metropol, Berlin May 27th: Alter Bahnhof, Hof, Germany May 28th: Media-Werkstatt, Stuttgart Festival Dates: May 31st: Pallieterhall Lier, Belgium June 1st: Brielpoort, Deinze, Belgium July 27-29th: Elephant Fayre, Port Eliot Estate, Cornwall 1985 The “Great Escape” Tour: June 1985: “Steve McQueen” released. Virginia Astley left the live lineup at this point, being replaced by Michael Graves, and Kevin Armstrong joined on guitar, leading to a much harder edged rock sound. July 16th: Triangle Arts Centre, Birmingham July 17th: Manchester International July 18th: Leeds Warehouse July 19th: Porterhouse, Retford July 20th: Leadmill, Sheffield July 21st: Underground, Croydon July 22nd: Dominion Theatre, London July 27th: Saturday Live Session August 7th (Broadcast 23rd October): Hold Tight, Alton Towers August 18th: John Peel Session, Maida Vale August 23rd (Broadcast): Bliss Channel 4 August 24th (Broadcast): Graham Bannerman Session Piccadilly Radio Session around this date – referenced in Acrylic Daze Fanzine. The “Two Wheels Good” tour: Kevin Armstrong had left the live lineup by this point but was not replaced. Wendy was absent for a considerable number of early dates, between at least October 19th and 31st. She had laryngitis. Dates where she was confirmed absent are noted below, noting she was pretty much certainly absent for the dates in between! Hurrah! were almost certainly the support throughout: noted in a couple of places were they were confirmed as playing. UK Tour: October 17th: Ritzy, Aberdeen October 18th: Dundee University October 19th: Queen Margaret Union, Glasgow (without Wendy who was sick) October 21st: Queen’s Hall, Edinburgh (switched from Coasters, and without Wendy who was sick) October 22nd: Newcastle City Hall (without Wendy who was sick) October 23rd: Rock City Nottingham (without Wendy who was sick) October 24th: Leicester University (without Wendy who was sick) October 26th: Salford University (without Wendy who was sick) October 27th: Liverpool Mountford Hall (without Wendy who was sick) October 28th: Powerhouse, Birmingham (without Wendy who was sick) October 29th: Sheffield University (without Wendy who was sick) October 30th: Victoria Hall, Hanley October 31st: Warwick University (without Wendy who was sick) November 2nd: Riley Smith Hall, University of Leeds November 3rd: Norwich LEA with Hurrah! November 4th: Oxford (may have been rearranged to the 15th) November 6th: Guildhall, Portsmouth November 7th: Cardiff University with Hurrah! November 8th: Gloucester Arts College November 9th: Essex University November 11th: Top Rank, Brighton November 12th: Studio, Bristol November 13th: Exeter November 14th: Coliseum, St Austell, Cornwall November 15th: Apollo, Oxford November 16th: University of Reading November 18th: Hammersmith Palais European Tour: December 2nd: Alabamahalle, Munich, Germany December 3rd: Lyon, Salle Moliere, France December 5th: Eldorado, Paris (Moved from Le Palace) December 6th: Rouen-Exo 7, France December 8th: Vredenburg Hall, Utrecht, Holland December 9th: Noordersingel, Borgerhout, Belgium December 10th (broadcast): Old Grey Whistle Test December 11th: Mannheim, Germany December 12th: Frankfurt,Germany December 13th: Fabrik, Hamburg, Germany December 15th: Errol’s, Gothenburg, Sweden December 16th: Circus, Oslo, Norway December 18th: Ghetto, Stockholm, Sweden 1986 January 31st: ‘Red Wedge Tour’, Newcastle City Hall February 8th (Broadcast): The Tube Channel 4 February 18th: Milan Rolling Stone, Italy February 20th: Camelot, Bari, Italy February 21st: Teatrotenda Partenope,Naples, Italy February 22nd: Rome, Italy February 24th: Padova, Italy February 25th: Bologna, Italy February 26th: Teatro Tenda, Florence, Italy February 27th: (originally scheduled for the 17th, but snow prevented the equipment from arriving): Teatro Colosseo, Torino, Italy March 5th: Hammersmith Odeon, London Gary Hughes joined the line up for the Japanese dates, standing in for Michael Graves who was not available. July 2nd: Kousei Nenkin Hall, Tokyo, Japan July 7th: Osaka, Japan 1988 July 4th: KCRW Interview with brief solo performance 1989 January: Midem Festival, Cannes, France February 19th: Brixton Academy (broadcast March 19th) March 1st (Broadcast): The Hippodrome Show 1990 August 1990: “Jordan the Comeback” released. Joining the core band of Paddy, Martin, Wendy and Neil for the tour were Jess Bailey on keyboards, Paul Harvey on guitar, and Karlos Edwards on percussion. UK Tour: October 5th: Portsmouth Guildhall October 6th: Birmingham AVLC October 7th: Cardiff, St. Davids Hall October 9th: Cambridge Corn Exchange October 10th: Bradford, St George’s Hall October 12th: Edinburgh Playhouse October 13th: Barrowland Ballroom,Glasgow October 14th: Newcastle City Hall October 15th: Sheffield City Hall October 17th: Manchester Apollo October 18th: Nottingham Royal Concert Hall October 19th: Liverpool Royal Court October 21st: Oxford Apollo October 22nd: HMV Hammersmith Odeon , London, with Trash Can Sinatras October 23rd: HMV Hammersmith Odeon , London, with Trash Can Sinatras European Tour: November 14th: Amsterdam November 16th: Nighttown Rotterdam November 18th: Modena, Italy November 19th: Teatro Olimpico, Rome November 20th: Teatro Orfeo, Milan, Italy November 22nd: Montpellier, France November 23rd: Palau d’Esports de Montjuic, Barcelona, Spain November 24th: Pabellon de Real Madrid, Madrid November 26th: Lyon, France November 27th: La Cigale, Paris November 28th: La Cigale, Paris November 30th: Vooruit, Gent, Belgium December 2nd: Copenhagen, Denmark December 4th: Rockgarden, Gothenberg, Sweden December 5th: Daily’s Melody, Stockholm, Sweden December 6th: Kjellern Chateau Neuf, Oslo, Norway December 8th: Belfast December 9th: Dublin, The Point Depot 1991 February 5th: BBC2 Late show performance. March 16th: Ricard Festival, le Zenith, Paris September 24th (Broadcast October 20th): “An Eye on the Music” , Paddy McAloon with Jimmy Webb 2000 The 2000 tour saw Wendy leave the band, and a stripped down line up with Jess Bailey on keyboards joining the three remaining core members. March 30th: Nottingham Royal Centre March 31st: Bristol Colston Hall April 1st: Warwick Arts Centre, University of Warwick April 3rd: Glasgow Royal Concert Hall April 4th: Philharmonic Hall Liverpool April 5th: Corn Exchange, Cambridge April 6th: Southampton Guildhall April 8th: Newcastle City Hall April 9th: Leeds Town and Country Club April 11th: Manchester Bridgewater Hall April 12th: London Shepherds Bush Empire April 13th: London Shepherds Bush Empire April 15th: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Eire April 16th: Dublin Olympia Theatre, Eire June 10th: Fleadh Festival, Finsbury Park, London 2007 December: PTA Fundraiser